Glitched
by spasmodicIntrigue
Summary: Sora was having a really bad day. Though, to be fair, all three of them were. Kairi was on the recovering end of a crippling cold, Riku'd had a hard time finding much when hunting, and as for Sora, he'd been absolutely assaulted by psychopathic carrion-eaters. As far as he knew, he was not carrion. Not yet, anyway. NOTE: More characters featured than just those listed.
1. I - A Murder of Crows

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Notes:

Well this is a thing.

Alright, so if you don't wish to be bored by my explanatory prattle (which has nothing to do with the story) then feel completely free to skip ahead because I know how annoying prattle such as this can be. However, I will briefly cover some crucial elements of the story right here.

Terminology: So there are some strange words in this. Well, not so strange if you are at all familiar with Latin. If you are, then the use of the words should hopefully make sense. If not, there is a sort of glossary at the end of the chapter which explains some of the lingo. Think of it as Jiminy's Journal or something. Even if you do know some Latin, I would recommend reading it anyway, as context is everything, and the context is very much explained there.

Also, beware of mildly coarse language. I'm not really a notorious potty mouth, but it's nice to not self-censor my writing for once. Hey, teenagers tend to swear. I would know.

Now, without further ado...

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**Chapter I  
****A Murder of Crows**

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There were nine bullets in the gun. That's what the red floating number said, at least. Nine bullets out of a possible twenty, and no reload to speak of.

When he'd checked twenty minutes ago, the number had said nine. It was as if he hadn't fired any shots. Only, he had – he'd fired three shots. One straight through the eye of a lumbering wild bovem, another into a red-eyed cornix which had tried to swoop in as he'd separated the beast's thick hide from its stringy flesh, and a third into another cornix with similar intentions. Three shots, and yet the little red number hovering above the hammer of the gun told him that there were still nine bullets in the Beretta's twenty-round magazine.

A glitch, he supposed, and not a debilitating one, either. Yet, he knew, glitches were never good. They so often ran just to avoid glitches. So would it be better if he were to throw the weapon away from himself, and continue back to camp unarmed, laden as he was with the collection from the day's hunt? What if he happened upon one of the aegrotii, human or animal? For now, he decided he would keep the glitched weapon, until he could consult someone about it back at camp. Then they could decide what to do with it.

If they did, in the end, decide to dispose of the weapon for the better interests of the camp, where would they be, then? One weapon down, out of a measly total of the two firearms and one hunting knife they had between three of them. Having two guns at least gave them a decent system on hunting days. One to hunt, another to defend the camp, if needed. With only one gun, they would all have to hunt together in order to protect themselves, and leave the camp and their food and belongings unguarded – practically an invitation for bandits.

So what would their other options be? Find a dungeon, perhaps. As if they'd survive five seconds with nothing but one measly handgun. They themselves could always take a lesson from the bandits – find the camp of some poor unsuspecting players and pilfer anything of value? Gold, silver, leather, food, first-aid items, and weapons most especially.

_Not gonna happen_, he thought to himself. _They'd chew me out if I even so much as suggested it_.

What they really needed was numbers. A trio wasn't the most convenient of numbers, despite how well their trio worked together and coordinated. A larger group might not be so in tune, but there's a certain strength in numbers – which is why going it alone is sure to get you killed. Glitches, aegrotii, bandits and wild animals aside, the system wasn't designed for lone wolves, so such people found themselves dead very quickly through the most extraneous circumstances. Falling out of trees, slipping off a cliff, falling into river rapids, feeling the sudden urge to turn one's own weapon on oneself. _That_ kind of extraneous circumstance. The kind created by the first game masters specifically to kill off single fliers.

He adjusted his grip on the Beretta as he lugged his day's winnings into more familiar territory. A cornix sat eyeing him from one of the lower branches a few metres ahead of him. Its stare was unnervingly intelligent – in an utmost malicious way. He didn't hesitate to put a round straight in its ink-feathered breast. Out of curiosity, he flicked the back of his thumbnail lightly against the underside of the hammer. The red number still glowed nine. No question now: definitely a glitch.

The first thing he noticed as he approached camp was that it was silent. _Much_ too silent, with the company he kept. Slowly, quietly, he lowered the hessian sack of lepii he had snared, then slid the bovem skin from his shoulders. He straightened and held his gun ready, casting his eyes about the camp. It was in disarray – the fire was out for the first time in days, the stone circle surrounding the charred wood disturbed. Their shoddily-made tanning rack was askew, lying sadly on the trodden dirt of the clearing, a large bulge underneath the leather as if it had fallen on a small boulder. The tent's tarpaulin cover had an array of new rips and tears across one side, revealing the thin canvas underneath. He couldn't see any shapes or movement from inside, but he thought it might not be light enough, anyway. Hoped.

He held the Beretta tightly with both hands, arms ready to straighten and aim, index finger ready to pull and fire. Experimentally, he called out, "Sora?"

There was a sudden flurry of movement from within the tent. He pointed the gun towards the other side of the tent, where the entrance was. There was an intense rustling as the canvas flaps were pushed aside, and a spiky brown head popped out, blue eyes wide, an eyebrow lifting at the sight of the gun pointed at him. "Really, Riku?"

Riku sighed, lowering the gun and releasing the hammer. "The camp's a mess. Did you two have a party and invite all your woodland animal friends to trash the place while I was gone?"

Sora shrugged. "Something like that." His expression turned grim. "Only we didn't actually invite them."

Without the gun's barrel in the way, Riku was able to properly see his friend, the shallow cut across his cheek, and the bloodied bandage wrapped tightly around his right forearm. "Is Kairi okay?"

He nodded. "Sleeping. I think she's still a bit sick, she was coughing."

Sighing again, Riku ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, what the hell happened?"

"Cornices," Sora said simply. "They're getting way aggressive." The fingers of his left hand absently brushed the reddened bandage on his right.

"_Cornices_?" Riku said in disbelief. "You got beaten up by carrion-eating birds?"

Sora looked hurt. "They have _really_ sharp beaks! And don't even get me started on the freakin' _talons_!"

"Did you at least shoot at them?"

"No, no way. I sang them a lullaby and then we all had tea. Of _course_ I shot at them!" he nodded at the bulge underneath the tanning leather. "They got real ugly to look at after about an hour."

Sighing yet again, Riku shoved the Beretta into its amateur-made bovem-leather holster. He nodded towards Sora, who was still fingering at the bandages on his arm. "Let me see that."

Sora pouted as Riku picked his way around the tent towards him. "It's nothin' too bad."

"Sora, you're bleeding through the bandage. Let me look at it."

With a resigned sigh, Sora's left arm dropped away from the right, which he held out to his friend. Riku quickly and efficiently unwound the bandage, which was, thankfully, wrapped correctly – credit to Kairi, obviously.

The wound was neither fatal nor infected (yet, at least), but it was certainly nasty. Eight long, deep gashes – talon wounds. They were deeper towards the far end of the gashes judging by how much further the flesh spread apart at these points.

"Holy shit," Riku breathed, gripping Sora's elbow and wrist and gently manoeuvring the arm to properly inspect it. "There's no way a cornix did that."

"I'm not lying!" Sora protested. "There were maybe five of them. They started pecking and scratching at the tent, so I came outside to see what was goin' on. Shot three before they could come at me, but missed the other two. One I sort of dodged, though he gave me this," he explained, gesturing towards the cut on his cheek. "The other was right behind him, so I had no time. Managed to put my arm up before he could gouge out my eyes, though." He said the last part with a sort of pride at having avoided blindness. Fair enough, thought Riku as he listened. "But it kinda… wouldn't let go." His intensely blue gaze drifted towards the now-dead fire circle. Riku instantly understood.

"Considering you didn't burn yourself, that was a smart move," Riku admitted. "If you had, I'd have no choice but to call you an idiot."

" I'm an idiot, anyway," Sora said, a guilty undertone to his voice. "The noises it made were loud enough to attract any wandering aegrotii within ten miles of camp."

Riku didn't reply straight away. "Then we'll move on as soon as Kairi wakes up. It's about time we did, anyway."

"Think she's well enough?"

"I hope she is."

The bullet glitch had flown from Riku's mind completely.

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There was really no other way to put it, to make it sound better, softer, or kinder: Sora was having a really shitty day.

Though, he supposed, to be fair, all three of them were. Kairi was on the recovering end of a crippling cold, and Riku'd had a hard time finding much more than bovem (which were only good for hide because their meat was too fibrous for human digestion unless prepared correctly – and none of them had any clue how to correctly prepare bovem meat) and lepii. They were all sick of eating lepus meat, no matter how many different ways Kairi had tried preparing it – as a stew, as steak… okay, that was about it. They had limited resources! _Seriously_ limited! There weren't even any edible plants or herbs about to at least liven up the bland flavour.

As for Sora, he'd been absolutely _assaulted by psychopathic carrion-eaters_. As far as he knew, he was _not_ carrion. Not yet, anyway. And he didn't want to think about ever being carrion, because the thought of those awful creatures picking at his dead, rotting corpse had reached a new level of repulsive. Ergh, awful thoughts.

Not like he had much else to think about, really. The gashes on his arm throbbed, even after Riku's careful administration of disinfectant and a fresh bandage – even after his protests that Kairi had already disinfected the cuts. He didn't know whether the two just liked to see him in _pain_ because disinfectant _hurt like a bitch_, or whether they were just babying him. Probably a mixture of the two. They all babied each other really, because they didn't have much other choice. They had each other and no one else. A team, a family. They had to be careful to keep each limb of the team healthy and functioning.

And now it was raining.

"You just _had_ to wait until it started raining to wake up, didn't you?" he grumbled to Kairi, who rolled her eyes. He stood watching her pack away the tent – rolling it up and securing it with twine. Sora had tried to help, but with his arm rendered practically lame, he was more of a hindrance than anything else

"I don't control the weather, Sora."

"Well _why not!?_"

Before Kairi could even figure out how to reply to Sora's strange outburst, Riku called to them from where he stood beside the burning pile of dead cornices. Pleasant. "You two ready to go?"

"Ready!" Kairi called in reply, straightening with her satchel, the tent strapped to her back. She threw a glance at Sora, then crossed the clearing to Riku. With a sigh, Sora followed close behind, his eyes fixed on the gun and holster at Kairi's hip. With Sora's arm out of commission, they'd made a unanimous decision that for now, Kairi would handle Sora's glock, and Sora would take Riku's hunting knife – a weapon only slightly less discriminating than a gun. Less expense to miss, at least, and if it came to it, he almost certainly _would_ miss, using his uninjured left hand.

Riku turned and headed off through the trees without another word, and Kairi and Sora followed with equal wordlessness. Sora held his breath as he passed the flaming cornix pile. He wasn't really in the mood for roast carrion-eater. He supposed that if they achieved one thing by this incident, it was that they'd put eating roast cornix completely out of the question.

Within seconds, they were surrounded by the dense trees, treading through the thick undergrowth to who-knows-where. Riku took point, as always, and Kairi paused to wait for Sora to pass her so that she could bring up the rear – Sora's usual position. It wasn't that they were usually sexist in not letting Kairi handle the guns, it was just that Sora and Riku had a higher proficiency with firearms, while Kairi's speciality was close-range combat. She looked delicate, but she could kick like a freaking horse. Not that she wasn't at all able to use a gun, she was just better with a knife – and vice versa for Sora and Riku.

They walked like this a good two hours before Riku suddenly stopped. Sora, zoned out, very nearly walked into him.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" he complained.

"It's too quiet," Riku all but whispered, his long fingers tense on the Beretta. "We haven't seen any life the whole time we've been walking. No cornices, no aegrotii, not even any bovem."

"Isn't that a good thing?" deadpanned Sora.

"I don't think it is," Kairi chimed in from behind.

Sora sighed. "So, what? We stand here and what until whatever's scared away all the wildlife comes and eats us? Hell, it was probably us. We probably stink of death and burning bird-brain."

"Charming," muttered Kairi. Riku didn't say anything, though Sora was sure he was going to spiel off about static variables and program-y system-y stuff that simply reminded Sora and Kairi how much longer Riku had spent outside the system than them. His knowledge of Ludum was certainly useful, but also a bit grating when he just wouldn't shut up about it.

Rather than starting a lecture, Riku simply grunted and continued forwards.

Another half hour and they finally stopped to take a break. It wasn't until Sora sat down that he realised how much of a toll his arm was taking on his overall physical state of being – he felt lousy with exhaustion, whilst Riku had barely broken a sweat and Kairi had only thrown in the occasional cough now and then. She currently looked no worse off than Riku, though her cheeks were slightly pinker than usual.

Sora closed his eyes and sank down against a tree, his body flushed with the heat of exertion; his limbs practically numb with it. Aside from the constant, painful throbbing of his forearm, that is.

He opened his eyes to see Kairi peering into his face, concern written all over her inwardly-turned eyebrows. "Feeling okay?" she inquired.

"I don't think I feel as okay as I think I should, but I don't think I know how okay I should or think I should be. So I think I'm okay?" Sora answered, but then was immediately confused by his own words. "Wait, what?"

"Right," Kairi replied, handing him a floppy waterskin. "Here, drink. Blood loss and all that."

"Pfft, it's not _that_ bad," Sora said nonchalantly, but took the water anyway, almost emptying it in his vigour. He hadn't quite realised how thirsty he was. So much so that in his haste to fill himself with liquid, he hadn't noticed Kairi take his arm and unwrap the bled-through bandage.

"I'd say it's pretty bad," she said, biting her lip. Whilst before the gashes had been fairly clean-edged, the edges were now raised, white and painful, when Kairi probed at one with a gentle finger, eliciting a hiss.

"They've been disinfected – twice!" Sora lamented.

"Maybe it's a glitch," Riku interjected, walking up behind Kairi. "And not the friendly or amusing type either."

"Is that possible? A glitched player injury?" Kairi questioned in a hushed voice.

_Oh boy_, thought Sora. _Here we go._

"Why wouldn't it be? Our molecules have literally been translated into binary data. Injuries modify the binary, and therefore the player's physical make up. Every injury is real. But since the actual act of getting an injury and the process of it either healing or declining into infection is essentially the data running an error repair and restoring the original binary data from a backup, the use of disinfection items are controlled by a variable, which determines whether or not the wound heals or infects. A glitch might cause an error in the code that makes it so the disinfectant variable is isolated and can't be changed, meaning the wound will get infected no matter how much disinfectant is used."

Kairi nodded with understanding, but Sora was confused as ever. "Translation, please?"

Riku rolled his eyes. "Disinfectant no workie."

Sora nodded. "Gotcha. I hate variables."

"Wait, but, isn't that _extremely bad_?" Kairi chirped. "Sora could lose his whole arm!"

"Or, more likely, his life," Riku confirmed, too casually for Sora's liking. "Which is why we need to move. I'm sure we'll come across a town if we keep going straight."

Kairi bit her lip, nodded obediently and set about re-bandaging Sora's arm.

Before they set off again – after Sora hauled himself to his feet with a fair amount of difficulty – Riku approached him.

"Look at this," he said simply, calling up the ammo check on his Beretta to show Sora.

"Nine bullets," the smaller boy stated. "We really need to restock. My glock's only got six."

Riku didn't reply. He simply raised the gun above his head and shot into the air. Kairi, who was packing away the first aid kit, jumped and whirled about to glare at the offender.

"Hey, hey!" protested Sora. "Don't waste ammo, man! We've got limited…" He trailed off when Riku again showed him the bullet count.

"Glitched variables aren't all bad, maybe," he said.

"Guess not," Sora agreed. "I still hate them, though."

Riku smirked. "You only hate them because you don't understand them."

Sora couldn't exactly deny that.

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They had to rest twice more in the next few hours. Once at Sora's request, and once at the others' behest; he hadn't looked at all good.

Worry had clawed its way into Kairi's chest, gnawed a hole through her heart, and now sat snugly in the newly-opened cavity. She could tell Riku was concerned, too, though he showed it differently. Whilst Kairi showed her concern by fussing, Riku showed it by being moody and hurrying them along – the type of behaviour which generally led people to believe that he was pissed off at them. Kairi new better, knew that he was just anxious to find help, but Sora wasn't quite as observant as she, and so reflected an equally moody demeanour as they travelled. Though Kairi suspected that it was partially caused by the fact that he was injured, and injury was the right downer for everyone. Especially when it was glitchfected, as they'd come to call it.

When finally the trees thinned and the undergrowth grew sparse, Riku stopped in his tracks. Sora took a few more steps before sinking to the grassy ground, unnaturally pale skin shining with sweat. Kairi continued until she stood next to Riku, sparing a glance to Sora to make sure he was OK. Well, as OK as he could possibly be, given the circumstances. She then looked at Riku, raising an eyebrow wordlessly.

He lifted a hand, pointing to his ear. Kairi understood the gesture; he was listening for something. So she listened, too.

At first, she could hear nothing but Sora's shallow panting, but then she heard what Riku obviously had, with his near inhuman senses. She heard voices, and steps in their direction.

"Oh, come on! They're just rumours! You don't honestly think that ghosts exist, do you?"

"So what if I do? That's not the point! It's an old, rotting house, we'll probably fall through the floor!"

"It's private property, too."

"And that!"

"Not helping, Olette!"

"It's true, though!"

"I don't know what your problem is, Hayner. We're going aren't we?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to understand why you don't wanna see any ghosts."

"So… _you_ believe in ghosts?"

"What!? No! That's not what I…"

The voices stopped as three kids, probably similar age to themselves, came into view behind some trees. The guy in front, with blond hair and camos, had frozen at the sight of Riku and Kairi. A brunette girl stepped forward.

"Hayner? What's…"

She spotted them, too. So had the other boy. All five of them (Sora was still hyperventilating on the ground) stood frozen and staring.

Then Kairi realised – she and Riku had guns clutched in their hands. Hurriedly, she shoved the glock back into its sheath, and elbowed Riku, hoping he would get the hint and do the same. She stepped forward, holding her hands up and smiling with what she hoped was a friendly expression.

"Um… hi! We don't mean you any harm, we just, uh… We're looking for a healer."

The blond guy raised an eyebrow. "A healer? Why?"

The girl hit his arm with the back of his hands. "Hayner!" she hissed, and gestured with her head towards Sora.

"Oh," he said blankly. "_Oh!_ Oh my god, you need a healer!"

The second boy – black-haired and ever-so-slightly rotund, raised a hand. "I'll go fetch Doctor Fitzroy. I'll meet you guys at The Usual Spot, alright?"

The girl – Olette – nodded. "Yeah. We'll take them there."

Kairi finally lowered her hands. "Thank you so much." She looked to Riku, and lowered her voice. "They seem harmless."

Riku nodded his assent. "They're Game-born."

"Game-born?"

"I'll explain later." Before Kairi could press the question, he turned away from her, holding a hand out towards Sora.

"Come on," he said, at normal volume. "Not much longer now."

"Ugh," Sora groaned, feebly grabbing with his uninjured hand at Riku's proffered one. "You'd better hope so."

Riku smiled grimly, pulling him up with some difficulty on Sora's behalf. "Yeah."

Kairi put a hand on Sora's shoulder as he passed, falling into step with him and Riku. The three of them approached the blond boy and brunette girl, both of whom wore troubled expressions, likely at the sight of Sora's pale, slightly grey skin. Or, perhaps, the bandaged arm which was now supported by a sling fashioned from a ragged yellow scarf.

"There's a hole in the town wall just up this way a bit," said the boy, gesturing back the way they had come, and the other boy had gone. "It leads right into the Tram Commons. From there, we can get to The Usual Spot. It's er, where we hang out. Pence will bring the doctor there."

"He's a very good doctor," the girl supplied. "Oh, by the way, I'm Olette, and this is Hayner. The guy who just left is Pence, obviously."

"Let's not waste time, then," Riku all but growled.

"Yep, yep! This way, this way!" Hayner said hastily, turning and making his way through the trees. His pace was reasonable. Olette waited for Sora, Kairi and Riku to pass before following behind them.

The trees continued to thin, so much so that the woods smoothly transitioned into the clearing surrounding a large hole in the side of a standardised city wall. They'd seen cities before, but it had been ages since the last time. Cities meant players, and players meant trouble, generally speaking. At least, Riku seemed to think so, and Sora and Kairi generally trusted Riku's greater wealth of knowledge.

"Don't be too surprised if people don't trust you, with those weapons," Olette spoke up from behind them. "Twilight Town is a Perfugium."

Oh, Kairi bet Riku was over the moon about that. The use of weapons was banned in a Perfugium, and breaking that rule meant severe punishment. It was more troublesome than anything else, as the aegrotii were known to appear inside cities – including Perfugium – and the AI guards weren't exactly efficient in disposing of them. Whenever it happened, Players could do little more than simply watch the NPC corpses pile up. At least _they_ were able to respawn, Kairi supposed.

There was no guard at the hole in the wall. If Kairi had asked why, Riku probably would have launched into an explanation about predetermined patrol routes and player-inflicted game environment destruction and whatnot. So she stayed silent, to save everyone's ears and minds. Valiant of her, really.

"The Usual Spot isn't far from the Commons," Hayner called from up ahead. "Not too much longer, I promise!"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Sora said through gritted teeth. Riku put a firm hand on his upper back to urge him forwards.

"Because you look awful."

"You too. Wait, never mind, that's normal."

Riku frowned. Kairi just rolled her eyes. Sora hadn't missed a beat, even in his weakened state.

They emerged through the wall into the paved streets of the first town they'd been in for… what, _months_? The sun hung a while above the horizon – barely visible behind the town's taller buildings. It was not the biggest town in the Realms, but it was no small village, either.

Hayner and Olette escorted them into a rapidly darkening alleyway, and through a chain-link fence gate into a garage-like hang out area, with golden light filtering in through the slatted ceiling. They were underneath train lines, Kairi realised. Goodness, how long had it been since she'd seen either train or line?

"Have a seat," Hayner offered, gesturing vaguely to the shabby couches. Couches! Civilisation sure had it easy.

Riku had led Sora to a seat almost before Hayner had even opened his mouth, taking the rest of the space on the two-seater for himself, so Kairi perched anxiously on the other couch, on the side closest to her friends.

"Pence should be here soon," Olette said, the nerves prominent in her voice. "Doctor Fitzroy is the best healer in Twilight Town, but he's practically on the other side of town."

They made small talk as they waited. Hayner even blatantly asked Sora what was wrong with him, but was quickly silenced by a glare and a short answer of "Infection" from Riku. No more was said on the matter. Naturally, Sora didn't have much to contribute, as he was far too busy slumped on the couch with his eyes practically rolling in his head. This, of course, made Riku very reluctant to talk, and the combination of these two things made Kairi less willing to make conversation. She tried, though, to return the friendly gestures of Hayner and Olette with mindless chatter. She could normally chatter like a pro, but today her heart just wasn't in it. A couple of coughs hacked at her throat while they waited – the last remnants of the nasty cold she'd had. It seemed so insignificant now, in comparison to what Sora was dealing with.

After what seemed like an age and a half, the other boy, Pence, finally returned. Trailing behind him, looking rather harried, was a greying, balding middle-aged man in a typical white doctor's coat. The mark of an NPC healer, generally, but this guy had his Profession Badge pinned to the lapel of his coat. A Player Healer. More skilled than an NPC, but not always as reliable.

"Oh, good lord," he said immediately upon entering. His doctor-sense had enabled him to spot Sora straight away. Or something like that. Kairi realised it had been a long time since she'd seen a doctor, too. It had been a long time since she'd seen most anything generally found in civilisation. Doctor Fitzroy crossed the room briskly, conjuring a thermometer (seemingly from nowhere) and all but forcing it down Sora's throat. Normally, Sora would have protested, but he was too far gone at this point. Kairi wondered if this was how infections worked in real life, too. The game's take on physical injuries wasn't quite accurate, according to Riku. More code and variables than actual physical components. In some cases this made sickness and injury more deadly, and in others less.

The thermometer beeped, and the doctor hastily removed it, examining the reading. "Hm. Infection?"

"Yeah," Riku replied simply, gently lifting Sora's right arm by the elbow to bring the doctor's attention to it. "Cornix talons."

"Ooh, ouch," the doctor visibly flinched, gingerly taking the arm. "Did you not disinfect it?"

Kairi could have sworn she'd heard Riku's teeth grind together. "We tried."

"You _tried_? Disinfectant isn't a hard item to use."

"It glitched," Kairi replied calmly, throwing Riku a warning glance. "It wouldn't work, no matter how many times we tried. We used up all of our disinfectant trying."

"A _glitch_? Goodness, that _is_ unfortunate. Uncommon, too. Not sure I've ever seen _disinfectant_ glitch. Honestly, I think the only thing I've ever seen glitch is my toaster, that one time I…" Doctor Fitzroy trailed off at the look on Riku's face. He coughed, and gently lowered Sora's arm. "Not to worry, I have a good supply of Omni Sana."

That was the difference between NPC healers and Player healers. Player healers could hold items like Omni Sana shots – injections that returned a Player to full health. It was the kind of overpowered item that would be abused if any old player were able to hold it, so, of course, only players with their profession specialisation badge in healing were allowed possession of the powerful item.

Doctor Fitzroy pulled the syringe from his coat pocket and removed the cap. The barrel was filled with a potent green liquid. He tilted Sora's head to the side, and the latter seemed completely unaware of his surroundings by now, bloodshot eyes swivelling in their sockets as if following the erratic path of some invisible flying insect in front of his head. The doctor used a wet cloth to clean the side of his neck, then didn't hesitate to plunge the needle straight into the exposed vein. The swivelling of Sora's eyes slowed to a stop, and his eyelids slid shut.

"You'll want to be wary of the cornices these days," the doctor said, his tone grim. "They're growing awfully boisterous."

"But why?" Kairi questioned. "They attacked us out of nowhere."

Doctor Fitzroy shook his head; no clue.

Pence spoke up. "My dad thinks…" all eyes turned to him. He blinked, but continued. "My dad thinks it might have something to do with Organization XIII."

* * *

Chapter I – Terminology:

_Cornix/Cornices_: Creatures heavily resembling crows, but considerably larger, with longer, sharper beaks and longer, sharper talons. Easy to kill, but dangerous if angered and not quickly disposed of.

_Bovem_: Ox-like creatures, but with longer legs, shorter hair, and larger tusks. Slow, but hostile and deadly when provoked. Its meat cannot be digested by humans unless it is correctly prepared. Its hide is pliant and durable, and can be applied to an extensive range of uses, depending ever so slightly on the creativity of the Player wishing to use it.

_Aegrotus/Aegrotii_: Grotesque, humanoid creatures. Terrifying. Difficult and messy to kill. Not much is known about what they really are or why they exist.

_Lepus/Lepii_: Like a rabbit, only smaller. Larger ears and tail, sharper teeth. Has a nasty bite, but not much of a threat. Its meat is ideal for human consumption, but the flavour is plain.

_Ludum_: The Game. The official name for the system in which Sora, Riku, Kairi and countless others are currently living within.

_Game-born_: A player, but born within the game, meaning that one or both of his/her parents were/are players. Perfugium are home to many game-born, as their peaceful nature is the perfect environment for older players to settle down and have children in. Doing so is encouraged rather than discouraged. Game-born lack the same identification as a regular player, and while it is theoretically possible for them to leave the game, it has never been attempted. One potential outcome is a complete sensory overload – the sort that can result in death.

_Perfugium: _A city which acts as a sort of sanctuary or refuge to all Players. Conflict is banned, and perpetrators will face severe consequences such as confinement or disablement of functions.

_Omni Sana_: Heal all. Heals any and every kind of ailment within seconds. Can be taken in many forms (injection, pills, liquid etc). Side effects include drowsiness, unconsciousness, lack of coordination, extreme hunger or thirst, hyperactivity. Excessive consumption may result in the total loss of control over all biological functions or full-body paralysis. For this reason, the possession of this item is restricted to players in possession of a Profession Mastery badge in Healing.

* * *

Notes (cont.):

So I figure it fitting to put _these _particular notes at the end rather than at the beginning.

If you somehow understood that at all, and wish to see more... don't hold your breath? Chapter two is well in the works, of course, but don't expect any kind of regular updating schedule. In fact, don't be too surprised if there are no updates at all. Any updates that _do_ happen to happen will be quite spasmodic.

Why? Well, I'm writing this for stress relief/mind-clearing/procrastination and absolutely no planning has gone into this. In fact, the whole thing started with the concept of the glowing number 9 and the knowledge that it applied to a number of bullets. It was a dream I had, then promptly forgot everything but the 9, which stuck with me all day until I finally started this. I'm not sure how it progressed from nine bullets to Latin to glitchfections, and I'm not sure why I chose _this_ fandom, but I suppose that's just the beauty of absolute free form.

So don't be surprised if:  
- I never update this again or  
- I do update it, but it spirals madly out of my own control (I can tell you with certainty that this is already sort of happening. That's not to say that it isn't interesting. Heck, it's a good chance for me to evaluate my mental state, if nothing else. So far the verdict isn't great.)

Updates may be few and far between, but they will also be monstrously long, just like this.

If you _did_ enjoy it (heaven forbid) then you'd be best to follow it rather than trying to find it again. And I swear to god this isn't just me trying to get follows.

That being said, reviews are a good form of motivation, wink. I'll also reply because it's a great way to further procrastinate and still feel as if I'm being productive. Also, it's a good way to tell me if I'm being too confusing or ask for further explanations if you don't quite understand some elements. This will both give me the opportunity to either explain it to you directly or explain it better in the actual story.

I promise I'll keep these obnoxious notes to a minimum next time. If there is a next time. Which there hopefully will be, as the next chapter introduces some intriguing elements.

The secret is in the code. Wink.

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	2. II - A Quiver of Cobras

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Notes:

If you're expecting some questions to be answered in this chapter, then you'd be right. If you were expecting it to answer some questions without posing even more, you'd be wrong. I'll figure out what's going on eventually.

This chapter is longer and has a lot more divisions, so just be aware of that.

Also, thank you to those who reviewed/followed/favourited this story last chapter. It really does mean something to know that you're enjoying something which just tumbled out of my head on a whim.

* * *

**Chapter II  
A Quiver of Cobras**

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Of all the places to be within the Game world, the most dangerous was The World That Never Was. If you even managed to get to it in the first place (for it technically did not exist), it was riddled with some of the nastiest aegrotii in the realms. Your chances of survival were slim, if at all existent. Though that was only what some people believed.

Others believed it to be perhaps the safest realm of all. Well, if you managed to get within the walls of the Dark City. These people's reasoning was simple: The ruling faction of The World That Never Was was none other than Organization XIII.

Though, it was a stretch to call them a faction, and many scoffed at hearing it called that. A faction was supposed to be programmed into the game's system. Faction representatives were always NPCs. Each of the realms had their own residing factions, except for the few Wild Realms, which more often than not were reigned by a Perfugium – a city intended as a safe refuge to players of any and all factions. 'Reigned' wasn't really the right term, though, for Perfugium had no need for NPC leaders.

The World That Never Was had been a Wild Realm, and the Dark City a Perfugium. It would have stayed that way forever if not for Organization XIII, a coveted Collegium of only the most skilled Players. So coveted, they only allowed thirteen members at a time. Thirteen members, and yet they'd managed to gain so much strength and standing that they were able to convert a Perfugium to a Praesidium, conquer the Castle That Never Was (which had been until then heralded as the most deadly dungeon in the realms) and make it their headquarters, and essentially become the Game world's first Collegium faction, presiding over The World That Never Was.

Every Player, NPC and their pet cat knew the name of Organization XIII. They were infamous; notorious. Their members were recognised by the black leather coats they donned, and there were many who less-than-affectionately nicknamed them "Nobodies", in reference to the seemingly emotionless demeanour with which they carried out the unknown quests and missions their leader (Xemnas, the most heartless of them all) tasked them with.

The reputation was a _bit_ harsh, in Roxas' opinion. He was the newest member, filling the position of thirteenth after the death of another member caused every other number above his to move up a rank and vacate number XIII, the Organization's lowest rank. Roxas didn't mind this so much. It was achievement enough to have gotten a position at all – Organization XIII may not have been popular for the most part, but there were plenty of Players within the Dark City who would give their left eye to be one of the thirteen numbers. That way they'd match Xigbar, and the Organization would finally have an even number of eyes, at least.

Being in Organization XIII was an accomplishment, sure, but the hard work didn't stop after initiation. The missions were not easy, not in the slightest. Well, they were easy in _theory_. Every day they were all sent out to different areas of The World That Never Was and various other realms to fulfil their daily aegrotus quota. Easy enough. Exhausting, and certainly dirty work, but easy enough, with his elaborate dual falchions and a forty-four magnum as backup. It was the chores at HQ that were trickier… particularly kitchen duty. As the lowest-ranking member, he had the honour of having the most chores to complete. Utter joy.

"Rooxaaas!"

With a sickening squelch, Roxas pulled a falchion free of its temporary sheath in the head of an aegrotus. Its thick, dark blood clung to the steel blade in strings and tendrils. Making a face, he gave the sword a shake. It didn't really help. Both of his swords were coated in the foul, sticky substance.

"Over here!" he called in reply to his name. He held both swords in one hand, and with some difficulty removed the desecrated glove of the other. With his newly-freed hand he pushed back the hood of his coat and ran his fingers through his illogical hair.

He wasn't the only one with illogical hair, however. He saw the bright red before he could even see Axel's face. Maybe insane hair was one of the criteria of being an Organization XIII member.

Unlike Roxas, Axel had managed to keep himself completely clean. Not even the tiniest splatter of viscous aegrotus blood. By the looks of it, he'd already sent his Chakrams back into the data cloud.

"Yeeeeeesh, how did you manage that?" his fire-headed friend asked, looking Roxas up and down with an amused expression on his face; one eyebrow raised, smirk firmly in place.

"Not all of us use throwing weapons, jerk," Roxas replied, rolling his eyes.

"Not all of you are skilled enough for them." Axel winked.

"Oh, give me a break. It's not half as bad as yesterday."

"You're right. It's half again as bad."

Roxas glared as he sent his falchions into the Collegium data cloud. "It is not."

"Trust me, it is. But don't worry about it. Here." The redhead chucked him a small purple spray bottle. Roxas caught it easily in his un-gloved hand and examined it.

"And this is…?"

"It's a new item Vexen's been developing. He named it 'munidor', but everyone just calls it insta-clean," Axel explained.

Roxas frowned. "And I never knew about this until now, why…?"

Axel laughed in a frustratingly exaggerated way. "Really? Shut up, thirteen."

Scowling, Roxas held up the spray. "It won't turn me into a lepus or something, will it?"

"Nah, only the prototype did that."

"_What!?_"

"Just use it, Roxas!"

So Roxas did. He aimed it towards his chest and pressed down the top of the bottle. Immediately he was encased within purple steam, and for a split second he feared for his life, before the haze cleared and he was greeted by the sight of Axel nodding in approval.

"Yep, now I don't want to puke when I look at you quite as much."

"Really? The sight of you still makes _me_ gag," Roxas retorted.

"Ohoho, good one, Roxy. Maybe you should start doing comedy acts in your free time. Oh, wait, you don't _have_ any free time, boot boy!" Axel laughed heartily at his own joke while Roxas simply stared at him, eyebrow raised. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go into town and get some ice cream."

"Ice cream? Shouldn't we be heading back so I can get on with my _boot boy_ duties?" Roxas inquired.

Axel grinned. "I wouldn't want to keep you from your laundry, but as your superior, I _order_ you to come into town and get ice cream with me, for I very much want ice cream." He winked.

"Oh yeah?" Roxas returned the grin. "Then I shall accompany you, O Glorious Number Eight."

Yet as they set off, Roxas could feel the apprehension setting in.

He hadn't returned to Twilight Town in over a year.

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"_Give me a status report on server three, stat!"_

"_Up and running…."_

"_But?"_

"_Completely swamped with glitches, I don't understand it. It's as if a virus has gotten into the system, but that's not possible."_

"_It's completely possible. The virus has been there since the beginning. The whole system was built to accommodate it."_

"_The players!?"_

"_Who else? Who do you think keeps running these server attacks?"_

"_There's a whole host of outside forces who would love to shut down the servers! With millions of lives in their hands, they could get the hegemony to do whatever they liked."_

"_Oh, please. The outsiders barely have toothbrushes, let alone the kind of advanced technology needed to trump _this_ system. The players are the only logical solution."_

"_Why would the players want to destroy the system that's been keeping them alive for so long? It doesn't make any sense."_

"_They don't want to destroy it, they want to control it! You just said it yourself!"_

"_How would they even _know _about the hegemony?"_

"_They could be like us."_

"_What, some of the old hosts? No way, they know better than to pull a stunt like this."_

"_Maybe. You know there's only one way we can find out."_

"_Right…"_

"_Come on, you knew it had to happen eventually. I'll beta the host software tomorrow to make sure this side is covered. We'll go in on Friday at the earliest."_

"_I'll… I'll tell him, then."_

"_I'll go with you."_

"_You know what he'll want us to do while we're there."_

"_Yeah. I don't understand why he doesn't want to go in there himself. It's… safer._

"_It's not as safe as it used to be."_

"_There's really no hope, is there?"_

"_No."_

_"Hold on, there's some kind of interference..."_

_"Oh my gosh, is that...?"_

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"_When do you…going to…?"_

"_I…soon."_

"…_ra?"_

"Sora?"

Light. Bright light. Painful light. His eyelids flickered, unable to stay open, before he brought a hand up to shield them. The light still wouldn't go away.

"Do you feel okay?" Kairi. Definitely Kairi.

"I… I think so."

The light suddenly disappeared, and he was able to open his eyes properly. The first thing he could see was his arm in front of his eyes. His right arm, bandage-free, his recent injury reduced to months-old scars.

"Holy… How long was I out?"

"Hour or two." Riku. Great to know his friends were… watching him sleep. Real great.

"So either you found a healer or I've been possessed by a demon for the past few months and can't remember anything."

"The former… I hope."

Sora laughed. It felt nice to not be in nauseating agony. He lowered his arm and pushed himself up into a sitting position, perhaps a bit too quickly. The world tilted before him and it was only after a few blinks that it came into focus. He didn't recognise his surroundings, and at first, was very confused at the concept of being in a bed in a plain, but clean bedroom. All he'd woken up to for so long was the canvas ceiling of their tent, the cold, thin blanket they'd shared, and the solid ground underneath the tent floor. They'd _really_ been missing out.

The bed was a double, against the wall opposite the door. The only other furnishings in the room were a bedside table to his right, a picture of a vase of flowers on the right wall (not even an actual vase of flowers, just a picture of one) and an armchair by the window that was on the left wall. The armchair was currently occupied by Riku, who watched him with his usual blank expression. Kairi sat cross-legged at the end of the bed, smiling at him. They both looked cleaner than he'd ever seen them, and both were wearing clothes he'd never seen before. He was sure he'd memorised their whole wardrobes, since they only consisted of about three outfits, washed sporadically in streams and lakes they passed by. It was also odd seeing them without weapons. He supposed that wasn't really a good thing, that he was so used to seeing them always so ready to put a bullet or knife into any potential threats. It was bad that there were even so many threats in the first place.

"_It's not as safe as it used to be_."

The bright light flashed over his eyes again, but he blinked it off and shook his head, uneasily dismissing it as part of his vertigo.

"How do you feel?" Kairi asked gently.

"Surprisingly good, considering how I felt the last time I was conscious."

Riku smiled – an actual smile, rather than a sardonic smirk. Amazing. "That's the sana, for you. We're in Pence's parents' guest room, if you were wondering."

"What, they let us stay?"

"They couldn't exactly say no to someone unconscious in the middle of a Perfugium, could they?" Kairi chirped. Sora felt his cheeks warm slightly.

"Not _my_ fault!"

Kairi's expression changed very suddenly into a frown and she hurriedly stood up from the bed, standing at its foot with arms crossed. "Well if you hadn't forced me to stay inside the tent, maybe this wouldn't have happened."

"And maybe it would have been you who got hurt instead," Sora replied levelly. "It's a good thing it was me."

"What, because you think I couldn't have handled an infection? You don't know that I would even have gotten infected at all!" Kairi's glare was at its usual intensity, perhaps even more so, considering that she was perfectly clean, her face free from the grime he was painfully aware of on his own face.

His retort burst out of him before he could stop to think about it. "You probably _couldn't_ have handled it!"

"_What_ did you say?" Her glare turned livid, fists clenched by her sides and cheeks flushed with anger.

"Oh, for crying out loud, you were _sick_ just a few days ago!" He was sure his own cheeks were flushed, more with frustration than with anger.

"Ugh! You boys, you always have to act the hero, don't you? Both of you!" She briefly included Riku in her glare. "This may just be a game on some freaking self-sufficient mainframe system, but it's much more than just pixels and variables, it's our _lives_! If you aren't going to treat it like it is, then I don't think I want to be around to see you destroy yourselves."

And with that, she whirled around, wine-red hair flying behind her, and left the room. The door slammed none too gently in her wake.

"Kairi, wait-!" Sora struggled to disentangle himself from the bed's clean white sheets. He stumbled a few steps before vertigo and gravity got the better of him.

Even the thin carpet was softer than anything they'd ever encountered in the wilderness.

A pale hand appeared at the edge of his vision. He looked up.

Riku. Who else? He took the hand, and was pulled to his feet. Riku's cool gaze bore into him.

"I know what you're going to say," Sora said quickly.

"You should have just kept your mouth shut."

"I knew you were going to say that."

"Sora, I'm serious. She's just worried about you, okay? It's been a long day." Riku's logic and reasoning almost made Sora want to start shouting again.

"It's been a long day for me, too, you know. And holy shit, you could have… intercepted, or something!"

A silver eyebrow disappeared into its accompanying mop of silver hair.

"You could have tried, at least!"

"And had my head bitten off by both of you? I'll pass on that any day. Just give Kairi some time to cool off, man." He clapped his hand onto Sora's shoulder. "Come on, I'll show you where the bathroom is. No offence, but you _really_ need a shower."

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By the time they'd finally got up to the top of the clock tower, it was nearly dark already. The sun wasn't even visible; the faintly orange glow on the horizon was the only evidence that it had ever been there in the first place.

Roxas lowered himself onto the ledge, barely able to see the ground in the rapidly fading light. He could hear Axel sit down to his right, the plastic bag rustling as he got comfortable.

"We're not even going to be able to see anything," Roxas complained.

"Well whose fault is that, slowpoke?" Axel countered.

"Not mine!" Even in the lacking light, Roxas could still see Axel's raised eyebrow. "Okay, maybe mine."

"You bet." The redhead offered him an ice-cream, which Roxas accepted with a mutter in thanks. He started on his own, all but demolishing half of it within a couple of bites. Roxas watched him, hardly having taken two licks of his own.

"Do you _never _get brain freeze?"

"Nope. Why would I?"

"Uh, because you're human?"

Axel cackled. "You sure about that?"

Roxas smirked. "Sometimes, not so much."

They lapsed into silence, staring out into the darkness. The view was still spectacular despite it. It was both eerie and peaceful, seeing the town shrouded in darkness as it was.

"It's been a while," Roxas said, finally breaking the silence.

Axel didn't reply for a while. Then, "Sorry."

Roxas blinked at him, surprised. He couldn't be sure in the darkness, but his friend's face looked expressionless. "What for?"

"I kinda… forgot? About this town, I mean."

"It's okay," Roxas sighed, shaking his head. "I have to admit, it's actually nice to be back. I mean, as long as I don't run into anyone I know, I'll be fine, right? And what are the chances of that at this hour?"

"Right," Axel agreed, clapping him on the back. "You'll be fine."

"Maybe we should come back when it's actually still light some time."

"How about tomorrow?"

"Seriously?"

"Deadly." He really did look serious. "Come on, we should be getting back."

So they left, with only a little difficulty finding their way in the dark. After all, they were quite used to darkness.

As it seemed, they'd missed something big at headquarters.

"A fourteenth member!?" Axel exclaimed.

"Sweet, someone I can boss around!" Roxas cheered.

Saїx harrumphed. "If you hadn't dawdled, you would have returned to the castle in time to see her induction. However, we were forced to proceed without you."

Axel straightened slightly. "I wanted ice cream. Roxas dutifully accompanied me."

Number Seven's glare was as cold and level as always. Roxas could see why some players got the idea that Organization XIII members didn't have hearts. "And what about your duty to the Organization, Number Eight?"

A flippant shrug. "Forgot."

"Of course you did." The glare intensified. "No matter, what's done is done. Just don't do it again." And with that, Saїx stalked off.

"I guess we're not getting ice cream tomorrow?" Roxas ventured cautiously.

Axel barked a laugh, but it was tense. "Of course we are. Don't worry about getting in trouble, I'll cover for you."

"I'm really not worried about that, I'm more worried about Saїx turning you into ice with his eyes," Roxas admitted. "Then you wouldn't be able to cover for me."

The next laugh was a good deal more genuine. "Gee, thanks. You'd better get on with your chores now, boot boy."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Right, whatever. See you tomorrow, then."

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Axel watched Roxas' retreat down the hallway, made sure he was out of site before purposefully taking off in the same direction Saїx had gone.

He was leaning stiffly against the second corner.

"Beautiful," he remarked. "I might just cry."

Axel sighed, placing his hands on his hips an impatient fashion. "Alright, what's going on? We gonna rename ourselves Organization Fourteen now, or what?"

Saїx scoffed. "I highly doubt it. The registry is hard enough to deal with even when we don't all have bounties on our heads."

"We _don't_ all have bounties on our heads."

"Two out of fourteen don't, and they're both too low rank for their signatures to hold any kind of legitimate power in the registry." Saїx pushed himself away from the wall, staring Axel levelly in the eyes. "And one will never have that kind of legitimacy, no matter what rank she is."

Axel scowled. "What's the superior playing at? You're his little pet; you should know."

Saїx's scowl had about five times the force of Axel's. "The superior's actions are for the good of the Organization. It is neither mine nor your place to question him."

"Since when did this collegium become an out-an-out dictatorship?"

"When has it ever been anything but? It's certainly never been a democracy, it's definitely not sovereignty, and the only resemblance of an oligarchy is the Organization over the people of The World That Never Was," Saїx reasoned, though it was more defence than reasoning, with the surly tone he took.

"A government within a government. Fantastic. Though I always thought we were more of a cabal, really," Axel said, reassuming his usual nonchalant tone.

Saїx's scowl momentarily deepened, before he said, "Well, are you going to come meet Number Fourteen or would you rather go tease your little boot boy some more?"

Now it was Axel's turn to reassume a scowl. He very nearly said that yes, he _would_ like to go and tease his little boot boy some more, because Roxas was a good deal more pleasant to talk to. But he didn't. He could tell without even having met Number XIV that something was off. Organization XIII had its name for a reason, and for so long, Xemnas had refused to go beyond thirteen members. Why, after barely inducting a new XIII, would he suddenly decide to defy the entire principle of the Organization? And so, Axel said, "Lead the way, Moon Freak."

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"Where in the realms could she have gotten to? Dammit, if this side of town is _this_ tiny and the trains don't run again until dawn, where the _hell_ is she _hiding!?_"

Sora punctuated his words with a fierce kick to a rather solid wall. He only succeeded in hurting himself, of course, then hopped about, clutching his foot and cursing at the wall as if the poor bricks were at fault.

Riku sighed, finding it extremely hard to resist the temptation to facepalm. "Calm down, Sora. She might have already gone back to Pence's and we're just running a wild goose chase. You know what she's like."

Sora stopped hopping around, placing his food gingerly on the paving. Riku's practised night vision was good enough to make out the younger boy's particularly disgruntled expression, even without the aid of the white half-moon laughing at them through the black veil of night sky. _"Trapped,"_ it said gleefully. _"Trapped in an elaborate piece of software."_

He would have preferred complete darkness.

"Then what are we still doing out here?!"

"I said she _might_ have gone back; don't expect me to know all of the answers."

He'd said it calmly, but with a slight jerk, Sora went from looking angry to looking hurt and confused.

"Alright," he said, sounding defeated. "Sorry, man." His eyes were fixed on a spot a few paces to the left of Riku's left shoe.

Oh boy. "Sora?" No response, no eye contact, not the faintest flicker of recognition that he'd even heard anything. "Hey, dude, come on." He placed both hands on his friend's shoulders, leaning down slightly to peer into his face.

Blink. Blink. Eye contact. "Huh?"

Riku sighed, giving Sora a single, gentle shake. "Don't freak out, but you need to forget about Kairi for now. Okay? She can take care of herself, if she hasn't already gone back to Pence's."

"Forget about Kairi? Wh-why!? I need to apologise to her!"

That time, with the direct hands-on-shoulder's contact, Riku was able to feel the jolt that ran quite suddenly from Sora's right collarbone to the tips of his right-hand fingers, causing a subtle spasm. He'd felt the electrical current passing under his hand, but the physical contact had neither broken nor interrupted or redirected the flow.

"Because I need you to calm down, Sora. I'm not kidding. You'll get to apologise to her later."

"But I-"

"Sora!"

Again, the jolt ran down Sora's arm.

This time, Sora felt it.

He yelped, and pulled away from Riku's grip, his left hand automatically flying to his forearm, the site of his earlier wound. "What was that?"

"The glitch," Riku answered. "It's not an ordinary glitch; I think its your SIR transplant glitching out."

Sora just looked confused, with one eyebrow raised almost comically. If anything, it was an indication that he was back to his normal self. At least for now. "…SIR transplant?"

Once again, Riku fought the urge to facepalm. "Yes, the Sensory Immersion Receptor transplant, it's what allows your corporeal form to exist within the game's software. It's the one physical difference between us players from the outside, and Game-born players like Hayner, Pence and Olette."

Sora quite suddenly paled. "Oh," he said. "_That_ transplant. I _wanted_ to forget about that."

Riku couldn't help but wince. "Yeah, sorry for bringing it up. But if not for your… _experiences_, I wouldn't have thought to suspect it."

"Nah, I appreciate it. A quick diagnosis means a quick cure, right?" Sora said, feigning cheerfulness.

"Sure, Sora," Riku laughed, though they both knew this wasn't the case.

Even Riku couldn't be sure of anything anymore.

"Let's go back, then. Kairi will probably be there and act as if it was _us_ who ran off," Sora joked, and they both set off in the direction of Pence's home.

"We kinda did," reasoned Riku. "I did tell you we should have waited."

"Eh, the past few hours have been a bit fuzzy." He slowed slightly. "The whole day, really."

Riku smirked, and tried to lighten the mood. "Those cornices are getting way aggressive."

Sora laughed, giving his best friend a playful – but solid – punch on the shoulder. "Aw, shut it."

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"Twilight Town _again_?"

Axel shrugged. "The place is pretty much crawling with aegrotii. Well, the forest is."

Roxas frowned. "I guess, but we've never been sent to the same place twice in a row."

"Afraid of running into someone you know?" Axel teased.

"Not likely. No one willingly leaves the safety of a Perfugium."

"You did."

"Yeah, well…" Roxas set down his spoon and pushed himself away from the table. "I guess I'm just different."

Axel smirked, having finished his own breakfast several minutes ago. He stood up to join his friend and partner. "Careful, that's not always a good thing."

"Oh, shut it." Roxas pushed him, but made little difference. He was distracted partway through the act, his eye caught by something on the other side of the room. Axel followed his gaze. "Is that Number Fourteen?" Roxas asked in a hushed voice.

"Sure is," Axel confirmed. "Number Fourteen, Xion. Falling in love already, Roxy?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and dug a sharp elbow into Axel's ribs – it was about as high as he could reach. "Am I not allowed to be curious?" Axel could have sworn that he saw a faint tinge of pink on the boy's cheeks. "She just looks… lonely."

Again, Axel shrugged, ushering Roxas towards the door. "Nothing we can do about that right now. Plenty of time to be making friends later."

So they returned to the woods of Twilight Town, split up, and continued their work from the previous day, summoning their respective weapons from the Organization's data cloud.

As Axel's chakrams returned obediently to his hands, the blades coated with sticky blood from the aegrotus that crumpled to the ground before him, he heard footsteps crunching through the undergrowth.

Instantly, the redhead knew that it was not Roxas, for Roxas was a good deal more subtle. And anyway, Roxas didn't have six feet.

Curious, Axel edged closer to the footsteps, freezing as they stopped altogether.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" whined a voice. Axel used the sound to take a few further steps before pulling himself up onto a low branch of a tree.

"It's too quiet," said a much quieter second voice. Axel easily scaled the tree, then moved along the thick, interlocking branches in the direction of the voices. "We haven't seen any life the whole time we've been walking. No cornices, no aegrotii, not even any bovem."

_Ah,_ thought Axel. _My bad._ By now he was right above the speakers, looking down on the heads of three kids who looked like they'd been in the wilderness a long time. They were armed, but not heavily. Two had guns, the silver-haired boy and the wine-haired girl, but the brown-haired boy had nothing but a rather blunt hunting knife. _Hope he's not right-handed__,_ Axel thought, noting the bloodied bandage on the kid's arm.

"Isn't that a good thing?" said the brown-haired boy.

"I don't think it is," said the girl, joining the conversation.

The brown-haired boy sighed. "So, what? We stand here and what until whatever's scared away all the wildlife comes and eats us? Hell, it was probably us. We probably stink of death and burning bird-brain."

Axel sniffed the air as quietly as possible. The three kids did, in fact, smell like they'd been near something burning. He wasn't sure about the bird-brain, part; it was something he'd never tried burning.

"Charming," muttered the girl. The silver-haired boy grunted and resumed walking. The brown-haired boy sighed again, wiping his good hand across his face before following suit, the girl close behind.

Axel waited until their footsteps had faded before dropping down from the branch he had perched on. _I think that was the first time I've seen players in the wilderness since… yeesh, how long has it been?_

The redhead frowned, and almost reluctantly returned to fulfilling his aegrotus quota, carving a path towards town.

Hours later, and he decided to go find Roxas.

"Lemme guess… ice cream?" said the blond, catching the insta-clean that Axel threw him.

"You got it!"

Roxas rolled his eyes (his usual reaction to Axel's suggestions) but agreed nonetheless.

They neared town, passing near the old derelict manor. They were taking the back way, using the hole in the wall of the tram commons, by Roxas' suggestion.

"Wait, why is there a hole in the wall of the tram commons?" Axel had questioned.

A nervous laugh escaped Roxas. "It's, uh… It's a long story."

Axel was about to open his mouth to ask again about the hole in the tram commons' wall when Roxas suddenly froze. Axel immediately understood why.

Voices.

"…old, rotting house, we'll probably fall through the floor!"

"It's private property, too."

"And that!"

"Not helping, Olette!"

"It's true, though!"

Through the sparse trees, Axel was able to see a flash of orange before Roxas seized his arm and pulled him with surprising strength behind the nearest tree.

"I don't know what your problem is, Hayner. We're going aren't we?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to understand why you don't wanna see any ghosts."

"So… _you_ believe in ghosts?"

"What!? No! That's not what I…"

The voices trailed off momentarily. Axel and Roxas were crouched between the roots of the tree Roxas had pulled them behind, his grip still painfully tight on Axel's arm.

One of the voices – a girl's – spoke again. "Hayner? What's…"

Roxas's head whipped around to stare at Axel, eyes wide and… terrified? Of kids? Axel was confused for all of two seconds before it registered.

"_Your friends?"_ he mouthed, as a fourth voice spoke. The voice of the girl that Axel had seen with her two companions earlier.

"Um… hi! We don't mean you any harm, we just, uh… We're looking for a healer."

This day just kept getting weirder.

Roxas nodded mutely. Axel nodded in reply, then looked around briefly for an escape. A line of large trees would be sufficient enough to cover their exit, as by the sound of their voices, the three players were in such a place that Roxas' friends' backs would be turned to them. As for the players… well, Axel hoped they would be too concerned with their own agenda to notice.

Axel used gestures to convey his plan to Roxas, who nodded again, face pale. The redhead counted down with his fingers: three, two, one.

Quietly, they dashed from tree to tree, until the voices of the six teenagers were faint murmurs, and they were well out of sight. They relaxed on the hiding, but neither said a word until they were safely through the hole in the tram commons.

"So…" Axel began.

"Once again, it's a long story. It… wouldn't exactly make their day if they saw me."

Axel let out a whistle. "Yeesh, what did you do to get that far on their bad side?"

Roxas said nothing, but Axel was sure he saw the boy's eyes flicker towards the crumbling rupture in the wall. The redhead decided not to pursue the subject.

As Axel purchased ice cream, he noticed Roxas staring towards the hole again. Taking the ice creams from the lady and handing one to Roxas, who absently accepted it, Axel followed his gaze. Five teenagers had just come through the unofficial entrance, three of whom being the kids Axel had spied on earlier. The brown-haired boy looked in considerably worse condition than he had earlier.

"Pence ran back through earlier," Roxas explained, before Axel could ask about the missing kid. "Getting a doctor, probably."

Axel peered at his friend out of the corner of his eye. Roxas looked uncharacteristically melancholic. He hadn't had such an expression on his face since his first few days with the Organization.

Naturally, Axel would have loved to find out exactly what kind of history Roxas had with the three teenagers and the hole in the wall. But while he was curious, he was respectful enough to keep quiet and hope that Roxas would spill the beans in his own time.

"Come on," he said, clapping Roxas on the back. "Let's go to the clock tower."

Roxas looked up at him and grinned. "Yeah."

* * *

New Terminology:

_Collegium_: A guild or clan of players, often united for a common purpose. A Collegium can help to greatly increase the reputation of a Player alone, or a Player alone can greatly help to increase the reputation of a Collegium. Ranking systems vary depending on the decisions of the Collegium founder, and some even choose to cast aside the hierarchical system and create an open, free-for-all, democratically governed Collegium.

_Praesidium_: The capital city of a realm, ruled by a faction. More often than not is the home to faction leaders, who oversee that the Praesidium is always fortified. Conflict is not banned and so there are very strict entry regulations in order to protect the city's inhabitants. For this reason, many less eloquent players refer to Praesidium as fortress cities.

_Munidor_: An item developed by the Lab of Organization XIII. Instantly cleans a player and their clothing of all mud, dirt, blood and other undesirable substances. Not recommended as a shower replacement. Side effects may include the spontaneous growth of lepus ears or tail. Organization XIII Laboratories take no responsibility for the appearance of any undesirable appendages and/or physical modification of pre-existing appendages and warn that the user may use this item at their own risk.

_Data Cloud:_ A vault, of sorts, used by Collegiums so that members may call upon and store items that they do not wish to keep on their person. Permissions and storage allowances vary on the rank of the individual, and are controlled by the controlled by the Collegium's Data Master, an individual chosen by the leader or voted in by the other member's, depending on the Collegium's system.

_SIR Transplant:_ Sensory Immersion Receptor transplant. A small device grafted into a small hole made in the player's right-hand collarbone. Allows the player to take corporeal form within the game software and thereby be completely immersed and able to interact with the game's environment via the senses. Not present in Game-born players, as they are born as a part of the software's code. SIR transplant failures are very rare and very dangerous, as they manipulate not only how the player perceives their environment, but how the environment perceives the player, and, most perilously, how the player perceives him or herself.

* * *

Notes (cont.):  


Quick note about shipping: I basically ship everything. As a result, I ship nothing. I ship everything and nothing. That makes no sense to anyone but me, right? Doesn't matter, just know that whilst there are no 'ships' in this, per se, there will be hints of every pairing ever, probably in more of a friendship-like tone. I tend to prefer friendship moments to romantic moments, as far as most of the popular ships are concerned.

Quick note about the Organization: Normally I would spell 'organisation' with an 's' because I also spell 'colour' with a 'u' and 'speciality' with a second 'i'. However, for the sake of the fact that 'Organization XIII' is the _name_ of an organisation, I will spell it with a 'z' (which I also say as 'zed').

Note about terminology: Each chapter only includes the new terminology because otherwise the list will get very long. If I get to chapter five I might do a 'terminology so far' section which will include all of the introduced terminologies as a handy point of reference.

Don't forget to review/follow/fave because, hey... motivation!

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	3. III - An Affliction of Starlings

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Notes:

Well it's been a month and ten days.

So... how's everybody doing?

Okay, I'm sorry, it's been a really long time, I was perhaps a little bit busy with life stuff. Christmas, New Years, and my meagre attempt at a social life. And being generally lazy. Mostly being lazy.

I'm a pretty lazy person.

Anyway, this chapter is very dialogue-heavy. Prepare yourselves.

* * *

**Chapter III  
An Affliction of Starlings**

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The streets of Twilight Town were deserted as Kairi stormed through them, still fuming from her confrontation with Sora. She wasn't quite sure where she was going, but she doubted she would get lost. It was, according to Olette, a very easy town to navigate, especially when the town was divided into sections, with each section accessible only by train. Even in the dim, greyish light, she should have no trouble finding her way back. Once she'd calmed down, of course.

_Why am I angry?_ She asked herself, stopping suddenly, taking in her surroundings and realising that she had somehow made her way to the station. _Why am I angry… when I would have done the same thing?_

Sighing, she took a seat at the bottom of the station stairs. _I guess I'm just angry that I let him do it. Because he wouldn't have let _me_ go out there by myself._

Any further of Kairi's self-deprecating thoughts were interrupted by voices from the top of the stairs.

"…_really_ going to have your head."

"Psh, speak for yourself! Your chores haven't been doing themselves whilst you've been slacking off, you know."

"Sure, but I'm the innocent one. It was _superior_ _number eight_ who wanted me to accompany him to get ice cream."

Kairi twisted her head to look at the offenders. She could hardly see them properly in the dark. It was only when they were about two feet away that she could make them out, and see the black coats the both wore. And she knew what the black coats meant, other than making them even more difficult to see in such lighting.

"_My dad thinks it might have something to do with Organization XIII."_

"Hey, you!" she called as they walked away, leaping from her seat. They turned, the taller, red-haired one with a flippant eyebrow raised. The shorter one looked about the same age as she and Sora, and, she supposed, Hayner, Pence and Olette. She approached them briskly, her expression stern. "You're with Organization XIII, right?"

The blond opened his mouth to reply, but the redhead beat him to it. "Maybe, maybe not. What's it to you?"

Kairi scowled. "Don't play games with me. Everyone recognises those coats." The two exchanged a look before Kairi continued. "Tell me, then. What are you guys doing that's making the cornices so aggressive?"

The redhead's brow furrowed, while the blond replied, "We're too low rank to be involved with anything like that. Even if we did know, it'd be against protocol to go around telling people all about it."

But Kairi's eyes were fixed on the taller of the two. "_You_ know something. I know you do."

He smirked. "It's like he said." He jerked his head towards his companion. "Even if I did, I couldn't exactly tell you." Putting his hands on his hips, he leaned forwards, smirking right into Kairi's face. Kairi refused to flinch or back away, staring levelly into the man's face. "Maybe you should be more careful, next time." He straightened.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" demanded Kairi, clenching her fists.

"Have I… met you before?" the redhead asked, suddenly looking genuinely confused.

This, of course, only served to further enrage Kairi, who opened her mouth to further protest when she was overcome by a powerful sense of familiarity, and stuttered nonsense instead. _Had_ she met him previously? She'd never consorted with an Organization XIII member before now; never really consorted with anyone other than Sora and Riku.

The blond stepped forward. "Hey, do me a favour, okay? Say sorry to Hayner, Pence and Olette for me."

Kairi blinked, and closed her still-open mouth. "Uh, sure. Who am I apologising for?"

The boy smiled wistfully. "They'll know."

With a great clang, the clock tower began to toll. Kairi jumped, and spun to look at the large tower behind her, visible only by its pitch silhouette against the dull sky.

With a deep breath, she turned back to the Organization XIII members. Or, rather, she turned back to the space where they had been standing merely seconds before. Now, they were nowhere to be seen. Disappeared into the darkness.

When she'd confronted the two, she'd intended to come away with answers. All she really came away with was more confusion. So she decided to head back to Pence's and apologise to Sora.

Pence greeted her at the door, looking particularly harried.

"_There_ you are! Where have you been?" he asked, then, before she could reply, said, "Sora and Riku left to look for you about ten minutes ago. I dunno _how_ you didn't pass them on the way back."

Kairi shook her head, unable to stop the smile that crept onto her face. "That sounds like them. Well, it sounds like Sora, and no doubt he would drag Riku along with him."

Pence ushered her inside. "What'll they think when they can't find you?"

"Well, Riku will probably convince Sora that I've already come back here. So I'll just wait for that."

Pence nodded, looking quite relieved. "Good. Do you want some apple pie, while you wait?"

Kairi giggled. "I'd love some."

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Was this what they called 'confusion'?

She didn't know why she existed. She didn't know what she did or was before her present state of existing, or if she had even existed at all before now. She must have, surely. One did not simply come into being with full cognition and awareness, knowing how to walk and speak, read and write.

Why, then, were her memories as dull as the walls of her room? Her head was empty, and the silence triggered a pondering, wondering emotion.

Confusion. Definitely confusion.

_And what does one do when they are confused?_ she asked herself.

So she left her room to find answers.

The castle hallways were extensive and confusing, and equally as blank as her room. More so, in fact, for the lack of furnishing.

She wasn't sure where she was going. To find answers, of course, but she wasn't sure where to start, where to find someone who might give her what she wanted.

Instead, she happened upon the least likely answer-giving candidate.

He looked surprised, standing there, blinking, looking uncomfortable under her scrutiny. Did staring at people make them uncomfortable? He was staring back at her, and she did not feel uncomfortable. Perhaps his discomfort nullified any discomfort she might have felt.

She spoke, "Number Thirteen: Roxas."

His left eyebrow twitched slightly. Surprise? He blinked rapidly.

"Er, yeah. That's me. And you're… Number Fourteen. Xion."

She smiled. That was the polite thing to do, right? "That is correct."

"Uh… Right."

Silence fell again. Roxas seemed even more uncomfortable after their brief exchange.

"Why are you uncomfortable?" she inquired.

Roxas coughed. "Well, this is kinda awkward, don't you think?"

"How so?" She did not yet understand the concept of awkward. Was it the uncomfortable feeling? Perhaps her cognition was not quite as developed as she thought.

He frowned briefly. "We're just kinda… standing here. Staring at each other. It's not really an ideal social situation."

Xion mirrored his frown. "Then what is?"

"I-I don't know! Sitting somewhere eating ice cream together? That just about sums up _my_ social experiences, at least." He raised his right hand to scratch at the back of his head.

"I don't have _any_ social experiences," she stated.

Roxas' hand froze and he lowered it slowly. His facial expression was… somewhere between surprised and suspicious, a very strange combination. Perhaps she was reading it wrong. He crossed his arms over his ribcage. "Well, then…" he began slowly, his eyes affixed to her face, as if watching for a reaction. "Why don't we go to the dining hall and get some coffee or something?"

She felt her face stretch into a smile, felt a kind of… warmness in her chest. "I'd like that! I've never had coffee before."

Roxas laughed as they began to walk, side by side. "Yikes, never had any social experiences, never had coffee… have you lived in a cave your whole life?"

Xion shrugged. "I'm not sure. I can't remember any of my life before being with Organization XIII."

Though he was obviously trying not to show it, Roxas was obviously troubled by this information. And again, Xion wondered why. "Damn. That must suck."

There was no way that Xion could think to answer that, so instead, she asked, "Who do you eat ice cream with?"

Now it was his turn to shrug. "Oh, no one too special. I used to eat it with my friends, but that was before I joined the Organization. Now I eat ice cream with number six, Axel. I guess, now, he's my best and only friend."

A melancholy expression overtook him for a brief moment, and Xion, too, felt a sense of sudden sadness. "I don't have any friends," she realised aloud.

Roxas gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder, and held the dinner hall's door open for her. "You do now," he said, grinning at her as the door slid shut behind them. "Maybe you can join Axel and I for ice cream sometime.

Again, Xion's face split with her smile and her chest felt warm, and she very much enjoyed the feeling.

She'd not found the answers she'd originally set out to find, but she'd found something even better.

A friend.

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Pence opened the door almost immediately after Riku knocked, raising his eyebrows as he glanced between him and Sora.

"You two are morons," he said. "Kairi came back almost an hour ago!"

Riku gave a pointed glare towards Sora, who guiltily averted his eyes. "I told you. We should have just waited for her."

Sora frowned. "Yeah, well. Inaction isn't really my style." Riku rolled his eyes at that.

"Well, come in, then. There's apple pie in the kitchen, if you want it. It's probably gone cold, but microwaves exist for a reason," Pence said.

At this, Sora felt the inevitable characteristic grin creep onto his face. "What do you mean 'if' I want it? Of course I want it!" He bounded through the door, past Pence, into the hallway before anyone could say otherwise. Then, realising he had no idea where the kitchen was, he stopped, twisting to face Pence. "Uh… where's your kitchen?"

Pence chuckled as he closed the door behind a very unamused-looking Riku. "Second door on your right into the dining room, then through the next door."

"Gotcha!" Sora nodded, all but skipping through aforementioned door into the dining room.

Once again, he stopped in his tracks.

"Sora." Kairi was sat at the small dining room table. She stood as the door was opened.

"Kairi, I…"

"No, let me speak. I'm sorry I snapped at you. You… you did the right thing, and I guess I'm just angry that I wasn't well enough to be in your place." A small smile flickered across her face, and she sniffed.

"Kairi…" Sora wasn't sure what to say, so instead took a couple of steps towards her. "I'm… I'm sorry I said you couldn't have handled the infection. It was uncalled for."

Kairi gave a soft, subdued giggle. "No, no. You were right. I probably couldn't have." She stepped forward and flung her arms around Sora, burying her face in his shoulder. "I shouldn't have gotten angry. I feel like an idiot."

Sora laughed, and returned the hug. "It's fine. You were just worried, right?" he teased.

"Hm. Actually, you probably would have fared better than Sora, Kairi."

Pulling away from Kairi, Sora whirled around to glare at Riku. "What's that supposed to mean!?"

Apparently, Kairi was just as confused as Sora. "What _is_ that supposed to mean? If I was just sick, my immune system variables would have been weaker, right? And with the glitch…" she trailed off, but she didn't need to finish the sentence.

Riku shook his head. "The glitch wouldn't have happened. The disinfectant would have worked, unless _your_ SIR transplant is glitched, too." His expression darkened. "Which I highly doubt."

Giving a sheepish sigh, Sora sank into the seat opposite the one Kairi had just vacated. "Can't we just have pie and not worry about it for now?"

Pence pushed past Riku into the kitchen. "I'll get it for you. You want ice cream with it?"

Sora said, "Yes please!" as Riku said, "No, thank you."

"Kairi, you want another piece?"

Kairi shook her head. "I'm fine, thank you."

Pence continued through into the kitchen, and for a small moment, there was silence, as Kairi returned to her seat and Riku took the chair next to her.

"So," said Kairi. "Care to fill me in?"

Riku gave a pointed look towards Sora, who waved a hand in dismissal. "Go ahead. I'll just sit here drowning in corrupted code and confusion."

He rested his chin on his folded arms upon the table as Riku explained to Kairi what had happened in the alley; the electrical currents, the rapid mood changes, a whole lot of programming and variable gobbledegook. Pence brought in their pie about halfway through Riku's explanation, and exchanged a perplexed look with Sora before leaving them to it.

By the time Riku finally shut up, Sora had finished his pie, and was exerting a large amount of self control to stop himself from eating Riku's.

Kairi looked shell-shocked. "So you're essentially saying that Sora's existence within Ludum has become unstable, which is why variables don't work for him as they should… like the disinfectant variable. But the Omni Sana completely healed him, so surely it's not _all _variables?"

Riku shook his head. "No, it's not. Not yet. My guess is that the… circumstances of Sora's transplant have caused a corruption which has slowly festered into what it is now."

Again, Sora sighed. Both Riku and Kairi offered sympathetic expressions.

"What happens next, then?" Kairi asked tentatively, dragging her eyes from Sora to Riku. She was worried again. Sora could see it in the creases between her eyebrows.

"There's no way to know," Riku said quietly. "One possible outcome is that Sora's existence within Ludum becomes so unstable that he's unable to retain physical form. And since there's no known open ports into the real world, his code will likely dissipate and cause glitches in other parts of the system."

A stony silence followed. Sora didn't like it one bit. Both the silence and the talk of his possibly imminent demise.

"Is that what happened to your Beretta, then?" asked Sora, breaking the age-long silence.

Riku looked almost surprised, as if he'd forgotten all about the perpetual number of bullets in his gun. "Nine bullets," he said, as if repeating a mantra. "Maybe… I don't know."

Sora scoffed. "For once."

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To Roxas, Xion was a big question mark. She had no memories whatsoever of her life before Organization XIII, and she had suddenly been inducted into a fourteenth position without, it seemed, any kind of trial process.

"Maybe I just don't remember it?" she suggested.

"Oh no, trust me, you'd remember it." He remembered his own more vividly than he would have liked. "It's not the kind of thing you forget in a hurry." Well, unless the sheer trauma of it caused it to become suppressed. He supposed that was a relatively viable option.

It was strange, really, that as suspicious and, honestly, creeped out by these recent developments as Roxas was, he was currently casually drinking coffee with the offending strange new member. Though, really, she wasn't _that_ strange. True, when they had bumped into each other in the hallway, she had seemed almost robotic, but the more they talked, the warmer, more _human_ and friendly she became. Although, that might have been the coffee doing its work.

"Coffee's pretty good!" she exclaimed, setting down her empty cup, her eyes wide and pupils slightly dilated. "I kinda want more."

Roxas laughed. "I think you've had enough. First-timers should take it easy," he joked.

"What are you talking about?" she laughed.

"I don't want it to be my fault if you get addicted to it."

Xion's expression suddenly turned serious. "Is coffee a _drug?_" she said, her voice almost sinister. Roxas couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing. Xion looked confused. "What?"

"It's not a drug in and of itself," he began to explain. "It has caffeine in it, though, which is highly addictive, though it's still not really a _drug…_ I mean, you can get addicted to anything, right? And having too much of anything can potentially kill you. I guess the effect is just amplified in coffee?"

She looked interested. "Really?"

"I don't know! I'm not a coffee-expert or anything, and I _definitely_ don't know how these things work in Ludum." He had a sudden thought, and snorted. "Maybe ask Vexen about it. He chugs about ten cups a day!"

Xion's eyes went wide. "_Ten?_"

"Around about, yeah!" Roxas replied, nodding enthusiastically. He wondered what the residents of the dark city would think if they knew what the members of Organization XIII got up to in their evenings. Here were Roxas and Xion, discussing coffee, for example. Briefly, he wondered what Axel was up to. As soon as they had returned from Twilight Town, they'd gone to dinner, then after that he'd taken off, saying he had an errand to run, and reminding Roxas to do his chores. But what kind of errand could he possibly run within the castle walls?

It made him feel edgy, being surrounded by so much secrecy. From Axel, even. He could understand being left out of the loop on a lot of things, given that he was of the lowest… the _second_ lowest rank of the Organization, but the fact that the girl filling the lowest rank was the most confusing subject of all was just too much for him to ignore.

Xion followed him into the kitchen as he took the mugs to wash them. It had been part of his chores to wash the dishes after dinner earlier, so if even a single mug was left unclean, he was sure to hear about it. Xion watched him closely.

"Saїx told me that he'd be starting me on my chores tomorrow, so hopefully that means you'll have less to do, right?"

"Hopefully!" Roxas agreed, though he thought it was odd that they hadn't started her on chores straight away, as they had for him, and, surely, for the other members. "Maybe _you'll_ be the one washing everyone's dirty dishes tomorrow."

She made a face. "Hmm, you can keep that one."

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Once Sora and Kairi had both finally settled down and fallen asleep, Riku left the house again. The front door had been latched, so he left through the room's single window, left ajar to let some fresh air into the small room. Leaving from an upstairs window definitely wasn't the most comfortable way to exit a house, he decided, ducking into a roll as he dropped onto the small stretch of grass beside the house. It was, however, the way to raise the least suspicion. Even if Kairi or Sora were to awaken, the chance that they would assume that Riku wasn't even in the house was fairly slim, he believed. He hoped. He would rather avoid the prying questions he would earn by being discovered.

Vaulting the low front gate, Riku set off down the deserted street, headed towards the tram commons. Specifically, the hole in the wall. As he passed through it into the woods, he found his mind wandering, wondering what could have happened to cause such damage to the coded environment that the scheduled environment error checks couldn't fix. It was certainly convenient, but almost suspiciously so.

He trod carefully over the thick roots. The darkness was thicker amongst the trees, and returning with an injury would surely trigger questions.

Did the error checks even run anymore? Was there anyone left Outside still maintaining the server? A solid mass settled in the pit of Riku's stomach at the thought that there might be no one watching over them anymore. That they were all alone, trapped in code, left to fend for themselves whilst more and more glitches cropped up, eventually rendering Ludum unstable and causing the deaths of who knows how many.

It would certainly make sense, with the way things were going now.

As the trees thinned, Riku pushed the daunting thoughts from his mind, focussing instead on his current goal.

The Manor's front gate was open. Not much, but just enough for Riku to slip through. He approached the front door, but before he could even knock, it creaked open slightly, enough for him to see the pale, blonde girl staring at him.

"Who… are you?" Riku posed the question carefully.

The girl blinked, as if surprised. "My name is Naminé," she said simply.

"And… why are you here?"

The girl, Naminé seemed surprised again. "Who are _you_?"

Riku didn't answer straight away. Dodging a question was about the most suspicious thing a person could do. "I'm Riku. I'm looking for DiZ."

Her eyes widened sharply, and she opened the door further. "I'm sorry! I was told to let you in if you came, but I didn't know what you would look like. DiZ is in the library. I think he's been waiting for you." She stepped to the side and motioned Riku in.

Riku couldn't hold back a scoff as he stepped over the threshold. "Of course he has. But you still haven't answered my question."

Naminé closed the door behind him and gazed at him levelly, as if deciding whether or not he could be trusted with the answer. Riku met her gaze with skilful neutrality.

"I'm in hiding," she said finally.

"From whom?" Riku inquired.

"Organization XIII," said a new voice. Not an unfamiliar voice, however. Riku spun around.

"DiZ."

The red-wrapped man stood at the top of the grand staircase in the centre of the foyer nodded formally. "Hello, Riku. I see you've met Naminé. You can go back to your room now, Naminé."

Without a word, Naminé nodded, looking sullen, and traipsed up the stairs and down the hall. DiZ didn't even so much as look at her, keeping his gaze fixed firmly on Riku.

"What would Organization XIII want with _her_?" Riku wondered aloud.

Without answering, DiZ turned and took off down the hall in the opposite direction. With a roll of his eyes, Riku climbed the stairs and followed behind him.

"Does the fact that you're back in civilisation mean that you've given up on your little fool's errand?" DiZ asked casually, not bothering to hold the library door open.

Riku scowled. "It was a legitimate theory. We're only here because the situation was urgent."

"_Was _a legitimate theory?"

His scowl deepened. "Things didn't quite go according to plan."

"Right. And so you've been slowly leading your friends back towards civilisation. With good timing, it seems."

DiZ obviously hadn't bothered to close the floor-door when he left previously, so the staircase to DiZ's secret Creep Room was already open. Riku followed him down, keeping his eyes fixed on the back of the man's head.

"Good to know you've been spying on us," he said, accenting his sarcasm with a touch of mistrust.

DiZ chuckled, sitting down in his chair in front of the main control station. His own personal surveillance system. 'Personal' as in 'Unofficial' – DiZ was perhaps the most skilled hacker in the whole of Ludum. It was no small feat to build up your own rig and system and hack into the server's built-in surveillance. Looking at the many monitors across the walls was almost like being on the outside again, looking in. Almost. "Indeed. You'll also be happy to know that you were correct about Sora's SIR."

"Yeah?"

"It's certainly glitched. But it's no coincidence that it chose now to start displaying itself as such," the man explained, not being very forthcoming with details. Riku stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. "There are glitches appearing all throughout the realms. I'm afraid I can't figure out why, but they're causing all manner of ill happenings. Your gun, for instance, appears to be a separate glitch from Sora's SIR transplant, and wholly exploitable, I might add."

"For now, yeah, but it's bound to have some sort of drawback eventually," Riku reasoned.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. There's only one way to find out."

Riku didn't like the sound of that at all, but he had to admit, there was really no other option.

"However, whilst this is both pertinent and fitting to your curiosities, it is not what you came to ask me," DiZ said, hitting the nail on the head. He was as sharp as ever.

Riku frowned. "No, it's not. I want to know what will happen to Sora."

DiZ smirked. "Ever the noble, loyal friend, Riku. There was a time when you would have cared more about your glitched gun than your glitched friend."

"What does that matter?" Riku practically growled.

"I was merely observing, as I always do. I'm afraid I know little more than you do as to what is going to happen to poor Sora. I suggest you… prepare for the worst."

Riku clenched his fists. When he spoke, it was an effort to keep his voice from shaking. "You're lying. You always have a theory, at the very least."

Again, DiZ chuckled. The sound angered Riku to the point where it was very difficult for him to stop himself from clocking the old man in his concealed face. It would achieve nothing, but it would be very satisfying…

His next words, however, took Riku by surprise.

"If you want answers, you know where to go. But you're not the only one looking, so I suggest you exercise caution."

Riku blinked, forgetting his anger for a moment. But only a moment. "Stop speaking in riddles, damn it!"

"Is that all, then?"

No, it wasn't, not by a long shot, but Riku doubted that DiZ would be willing to give him anything further, and he was already sick of the man's mocking tone. Without a word, he turned, and left.

Naminé was sitting at the top of the stairs in the main foyer. As much of a mystery that she was, Riku doubted he'd get any further information from or about her, either, so he simply nodded at her. He could feel her eyes on his back as he stepped through the old, creaky door, closing it behind him with a scraping click.

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"I once thought we could have been good friends."

"We _were_. And we still could be, if you'd consider pulling your head out of your own backside." Axel was quite proud of his retort. Saїx was considerably less amused, opting to ignore the fact that Axel had said anything at all.

"So, have you come here for a reason, or do you simply wish to irritate me with your… overly vibrant presence?" the scarred man questioned.

_Overly vibrant presence? The man's running out of insults,_ Axel thought to himself, with a hint of a smirk. He pushed himself off the hallway wall he'd been leaning against, keeping his arms folded as he stared flatly at Saїx, who returned the stare with even less emotion. "You told me you'd explain about fourteen. Here _I_ am; where's my explanation?"

Saїx chuckled apathetically, his stance mirroring Axel's, and yet making it seem twice as unfriendly. To Axel, Saїx was the embodiment of why Organization XIII members were so often labelled as Nobodies. Emotionless, unfeeling, and cruel. "Why are you so curious?"

Axel rolled his eyes, but otherwise kept his expression as neutral as his used-to-be-friend's. "Because I've every reason to be. The Superior's a man of routine and tradition. Why would he suddenly change that for a little girl?"

There was a stretching silence, in which Saїx and Axel merely stared at each other. The air was hostile, as it always was between the two. 'Always', since they joined Organization XIII. Axel could hardly remember the last time they'd so much as smiled at each other, or offered a friendly greeting. _Was there _ever_ a time like that?_ Axel wondered to himself. _Or was it a nightmare I once had?_

Saїx's face suddenly twisted into a sinister sneer. "Very well," he conceded. "I'll tell you. I've been instructed to, anyway."

"Really," Axel deadpanned, scowling.

"Not here, though. Follow me."

So he did. Reluctantly, now that he knew that Saїx was supposed to tell him anyway. They could have avoided that whole interaction and simply cut to the chase, but _no_. Apparently, Saїx thought that his antagonising antics were more important. Jerk.

The room that Axel was led into was one of the castle's many strategy and planning rooms. Or… what was it that the higher ups called it? The conciliatory room?

"This is my personal consilium space," Saїx explained, with more than a hint of smugness in his tone. He was a mere rank above Axel, yet Axel didn't have his own 'consilium space'. Didn't _want_ one, if having one would turn him into a self-righteous prick.

"I can tell it's yours – it's as boring as you are." It really was boring. There was no kind of personalisation, it was as plain as any of the unused strategy rooms; circular, with an equally round, thick table in the centre, a large, curved monitor on the wall opposite the door, and filing cabinets embedded into the wall underneath the monitor. A slit on the wall next to the monitor indicated a printer, and a rectangular indentation on the side of the table indicated some kind of pop-out control panel. This indication was proven correct, when, seconds later, Saїx (completely ignoring Axel's comment once again), pressed in the centre of the rectangle, and the control panel slid out as the monitor switched on, displaying the Organization XIII logo as it started up.

Axel hovered by the door, ready to simply leave if Saїx's bullshit became too much. It was a viable option now that he knew that he supposedly _needed_ to know this anyway, so he would technically be denying Saїx the chance to do his job. He was only here for curiosity's sake, really.

"What do you know about Castle Oblivion?" Saїx queried, tapping the edge of the control panel's keyboard as he waited for the computer to boot.

It was a strange question, Axel thought, but decided to throw him a bone. "It's the admin realm. Or at least it used to be, when there were still admins and game masters in Ludum. What was it called back then? Land of Decapitators?"

"Land of Departure," Saїx corrected in a highly unamused voice.

"Yeah, whatever. Land of Decapitators sounds cooler."

Saїx continued as if Axel had said nothing. "You are correct, however, in saying that the realm is now unoccupied. Which, of course, presents a golden opportunity for any regular players who manage to find themselves there."

"But that's not possible. It's locked; no one can get there. Even if someone were to hack their way in, the castle is like a labyrinth, isn't it?" Axel said, simply regurgitating knowledge from printouts he'd been forced to read on the matter in the past.

"Correct. Which is why that player, or, _players_, a whole Collegium, even, would need the two keys," Saїx explained, opening a file and displaying it on the monitor. It was a detailed file of Number 14, Xion, including a 3D model, mugshots, and classifications.

Axel's brow tightened of its own accordance as he read it through. "Is this for real?" He asked sharply.

"It is, indeed, entirely factual," Saїx confirmed stiffly. "Number Fourteen is one of two keys that will allow Organization XIII to reach, navigate, and take hold of Castle Oblivion, and therefore the whole of Ludum."

"Great. I'm part of a Collegium that strives for world domination," Axel sighed.

Saїx shot him a sidelong glare. "It's not about ruling the game world, Number Eight, it's about taking control for the better interests of the people. Right now, the millions of players who are in here for a better life than what they would have on the outside are floundering about with no one to lead them. With us in power, they will have purpose and direction, and we can turn this _program_ into a _world_ worth living in."

Axel scoffed. "Since when have you cared about the plight of the common people? Since when have you cared about _anything_?"

Slowly, Saїx turned, hitting the shutdown button on the control panel, which slid back into the table. "Do you _not_ care about the common people?"

"More than you do, surely."

Saїx's expression did not change.

So Axel continued, changing the subject slightly. "What about the second key?"

"That is where you come in, Number Eight," Saїx said mysteriously, his expression remaining as still and blank as every boring wall of the Organization's castle headquarters.

"Skip the ambiguity, asshole, and do your job," Axel said, fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

Once again, Saїx ignored Axel's comment. "Your job is to track down the second key."

Axel sighed.

"Of course it is."

* * *

New Terminology:

_Consilium space:_ Another term coined by the higher-ups of Organization XIII (who seem to think they have some kind of influence over the ways of Ludum) to describe a space used for planning and strategising. Otherwise incorrectly known as a 'conciliatory room'.

* * *

Notes (cont.):

Very light on the new terminology this chapter, probably because of all the fluffy filler in the first four sections.

Don't expect nothing to be happening for long. I myself will get bored if nothing happens for more than a chapter.

Though, I've honestly no clue when/if chapter four will be ready. The only reason chapter two was posted so soon after chapter one was because I finished it shortly after posting chapter one, after having debated for ages over whether or not to post chapter one, and when I posted chapter two, I had only the first section of this chapter written.

I usually like to be ahead, but as of now, chapter four doesn't even have 'Chapter IV'. I literally finished writing this then edited it and posted it because it's been longer than I would have liked. I briefly considered posting a shorter version of this chapter, with only the Kairi/Sora/Riku sections that I had written at the time, before deciding that it wasn't quite complete like that.

If I wrote shorter chapters, I would probably be able to update faster, because it's faster both to write and edit a shorter chapter, but I have an OCD for consistency (and many other things, too - I carry hand sanitiser with me at all times) and all the chapters so far have been between 5000 and 6000 words.

What do _you_, dear reader who is reading this, think?

This isn't a ploy to get reviews, I honestly would love your opinion.

On that note, thank you to those who have given me feedback so far!

Good gods I talk too much.

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